Half Moon
by Sarcasm-Noted
Summary: fraternaltwinfic,jacoboc,aueclipseforward - Emma Swan is the twin with the relatively normal and drama free existance. All she wants is to make it through high school, have as much fun as possible while doing it and hopefully avoid any scenarios and situations like those her sister seems too good at getting caught up in which would be great if Jacob Black weren't her imprinter..
1. Conversations With A Wolf

1

Emma giggled as she made her way in through the bedroom window, falling with a surprisingly quiet thud. She looked up and caught sight of Bella standing over her and she sat up, hiccupping.

"It's 12:30. If you're not that late, Emma, why not use the front door?" Bella asked as Emma shrugged and pulled herself up off the floor of their shared bedroom and then nodded to Edward who asked casually, "Have a good time tonight?"

Emma leaned partially out of their bathroom door, which she'd been just about to close behind her so she could get a bath and get ready for bed, and said quietly, "I've come to the conclusion, Edward that at least half of the male population are arrogant bastards who will fuck anything that moves and don't like to wait on something that might just be worth the wait.. Does that answer your question?" before shutting the door behind her, starting the shower.

She shed her clothing and wrinkled her nose, her jerk of a date Patrick had thrown up all over her as they were leaving the party and it smelled awful, she was almost certain she'd never get the smell out of her favorite pale purple tank top.

Bella knocked on the door and peeked her head in as she asked, "Tylenol?"

"Deuce, por favor. I'm never drinking again. Ever. Consider tonight a failed experiment into the world of adulthood.. On all levels." Emma answered as she smeared Noxzema on her face and brushed her teeth.

"So, at least you had a good night, huh?" Emma teased her sister with a smirk as she looked around at Bella who stood in the doorway watching her, concerned.

"All we did, Emma, was talk. What happened to your hand, Em?"

"At least he wants to talk to you. Every guy I end up interested in only wants sex. Coincidentally, that has everything to do with why my hand is bandaged right now. Patrick grabbed, I punched and Jessica wound up wrapping my hand in an ace bandage.. Guess I don't know my own strength, huh?" Emma said quietly, laughing a little but mostly sighing as she took the Tylenols from her sister's outstretched hand and gulped them down, taking a sip of water from the faucet on their sink.

"Is there something wrong with me, Bells? Like, I mean am I doing something that gives off the vibe that I want an asshole to want me?" Emma asked her sister quietly as she stared at her own reflection in the mirror a few moments.

Bella sighed and then stepped into the bathroom, shutting the door behind them as she said quietly, "No.. You just.. I mean you're more emotional, you wear your heart on your sleeve.. And maybe you're a little too quick to believe pretty much anything?"

"Which is good when you're forewarning me that you're in love with a vampire, and it turns out to be true, but not so good when yet again I manage to pick a prick to date because he seems like a 'good guy' at first.. Right?" Emma asked, laughing a little as she shook her head, said quietly, "I'm fine, you guys just do whatever. I'm gonna shower and go to bed."

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm totally fine, Bella. Go back in there to your guy, okay? And apologize for my drunken stupor, would ya?" Emma asked as Bella laughed a little and then walked back out into the bedroom, flopping back onto the bed beside the spot in which Edward sat. "She's okay. She said to tell you she was sorry for her drunken entrance."

"It was sort of funny."

"A little, yeah. I just worry about her sometimes? I mean she's more like Rene and she gets hurt a lot more because of it." Bella admitted as she snuggled into Edward and then mused, "But I'm lucky."

"Some would beg to differ."

"Well, they're not important."

He kissed her forehead and then made his way out the window. Bella peered down into the yard and was about to shut the window when she heard a wolf howling from the woods below. She raised a brow, shut her window firmly and flopped back into her bed. Wolves lived in forests. Her father's house happened to be located right in front of one. Not a really big deal as long as the wolf stayed a safe distance away.

In the bathroom, Emma lie back in the steaming hot bath, her earphones in, humming along to a song on her Ipod as she shut her eyes and let her mind just sort of wander. And naturally, it wandered back to the wolf she'd been seeing around a lot lately. Finishing her bath, she got out of the tub around the same time that Bella knocked on the bathroom door, probably to ask if she were really okay.

Emma didn't really feel like talking about her problems. The way she saw it, at least one of them was happy currently. Emma didn't get why exactly Edward was what her twin wanted, but he made her happy so Emma didn't really make a big deal of him being what he was.

"I'm fine, Bells, go to bed."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Bella, I'm sure. Just go to sleep. I'm going to in a few minutes, just going to go finish the rest of the blueberry cobbler from earlier." Emma said as she dressed, her usual oversized tanktop that she slept in and a few moments later, made her way down to the kitchen, grabbing the bowl that held the remains of the blueberry cobbler inside, a spoon and a diet soda.

The howl echoed through the still of the late night and early morning hours and for a second, she was alert. Curiousity got the better of her and she made her way quietly through the back door of the house and onto their small deck, sitting on a lawn chair as she eyed the woods, waiting.

Would she see her giant sized wolf tonight? Usually, if he howled, he was in the general vicinity. And oddly enough, she found that she could pretty much talk to him about anything. He'd just sit there and listen and look at her with this strangely understanding and intent gaze in his eyes. His eyes, she'd noticed, were too human to be animal almost. And they sort of had this kindness, this softness to them.

About five minutes later, the wolf made it's way towards her. She took a bite of her cobbler and then a sip of her soda and sighed. "There you are, big guy. I was wondering if I'd see you tonight." she said as she leaned forward, held out her hand, just curious to see if the wolf would get any closer to her.

It normally didn't.

Tonight, however, the wolf walked over and nuzzled against her hand. She slid her fingers through it's fur and sighed aloud as she said casually, " Broke up with Patrick tonight.. I sort of punched him in the nose?"

_'Ah. So that explains the bandage on your hand.' _the wolf thought as it nuzzled it's cold wet nose against her bare leg, just letting the scent of her wash over him. He hated this part, the staying away thing.. But Sam seemed to think it was for the best.

The wolf made this strange barking noise almost and Emma giggled, took another bite of her blueberry cobbler before holding out the pan to the wolf and saying, "It's amazing." as the wolf took a bite.

Emma sank her fork in and took a slow bite, the wolf watched her lips and licked his own, tempted beyond reason currently. She sighed and a few moments later, she said quietly, " I'm just sick of always being an asshole magnet. I mean I'm not asking to find the one or something.. Just a guy who treats me like I'm important and wanted, not some kind of possession or something.."

_'And now I really hate Uley's no contact with the imprintee rules. If I'd made a different choice.' _the wolf thought to himself as he nuzzled against Emma again, looked up at her, noticed her shivering in the chilly night air. He moved to sit closer to her, she leaned back a little and then admitted, "Too bad you're not human, huh? Something tells me you wouldn't be a jerk bastard."

She thought to herself, _'There is something about the way this wolf acts.. Like it understands me or something.. No, no.. That's not insane at all.' _as she laughed a little and then yawned, suddenly sleepy.

" I mean the one guy I do want.. He sort of sees me as that pain in the ass sister type friend? And if I made a move, big guy, it would be awkward as hell. I tried once, we were kids, Bella and I were visiting Charlie for the summer.. And Jacob came into the treehouse our dad built for us to play in.. I kissed him and he got this totally horrified look on his face. Yeah, pretty sure any move I did make would be rebuffed." Emma admitted, her tongue dancing over her lower lip for a moment before sighing and shrugging as she said next, "But hey.. Doesn't matter anyway, I haven't seen him in over a month or something. I think he's upset with Bella. I hope not."

_'It wasn't a horrified look. I just.. I wasn't expecting it? And you ran off before I could do it back. Then when you guys moved here, things were sort of awkward? I mean you didn't come around as much as Bella did. Granted, I know she only did because I knew things she wanted to know.. But I just assumed you didn't like me?' _the wolf thought as he licked her face a little. For now, it was the best he could do.

She didn't know about the shapeshifter thing.

Emma laughed a little and then said quietly, "You are a sweetheart. You normally don't get this close though when you visit? So what's up tonight?"

_'I saw you sort of crying when you walked out the door.'_

More wolves howling in the distance had the large reddish brown wolf standing, glaring off into the woods. Sam must have figured out where he slipped off to. He nudged against Emma and walked to the door, Emma laughed a little and stood, stretched as she said with a laugh, "Yes sir. Going in now. I'm still half convinced these are just really vivid hallucinations. I've considered asking Carlisle if it's possible to dream while sleepwalking or something. Just so you know, big guy." before ruffling the wolf's fur and going inside again, shutting the door behind her, locking it.

Once she was up in her room, she flopped across the bed and not too long after, she fell asleep.


	2. A Run In With Jacob

2

"Jacob, did you hear a word of what Sam just said?" Leah asked, giving an annoyed roll of her eyes as her gaze followed Jacob's and she saw him watching Emma.. Again. "Of course he's not. He's distracted." she muttered to herself as Jacob gave her a glare and at least made a concentrated effort to listen to what was being said.

Had Bella told her what she'd seen earlier?

He hoped not, it was his place to tell his imprint that he happened to turn into a giant wolf pretty much at will. And Bella had promised him earlier that she wouldn't tell Emma, she told him in turn that she didn't think Emma would believe him to begin with, the imprint thing, when he told her, because according to Bella, Emma had been down lately.

Which was something he already knew, of course, from his nightly visits to her in wolf form, but hearing someone else say it..

The laughter drifted down the beach to their bonfire, and Jacob found his concentration wrecked once again as Emma and her friends threw a football back and forth. He'd stood before he realized he'd done it, started to walk towards the group of girls, ducking under the ball and catching it when it came towards him.

"Go long, Em."

"Jacob? Hi.. I kinda thought you were busy or something." Emma muttered as her teeth grazed her lip and she twisted a strand of hair around her fingertips, gaping at the sudden growth spurt her childhood crush had hit in just the mere matter of weeks.

"Something like that." Jacob said as his eyes roamed slowly over her body, a smile came easy. He threw the ball and Emma jumped up, caught it as she said "Bella's at home.. I mean if you're wondering. She and Edward don't actually leave and go out much."

"I wasn't wondering." Jacob answered calmly as he held her gaze, raked his hand through his hair. "Are you hungry?"

"I could eat, yeah.. I mean the girls are all leaving now, I was just gonna sort of wander or something." Emma admitted as she walked over to where Jacob stood so they wouldn't be shouting back and forth like they were.

"We've got hotdogs and stuff. I mean it's not much." Jacob warned as Emma shrugged and then raked her hand through her long and unruly dark hair, said quietly, "Better than the diet food crap I've been eating, I'm pretty sure."

"You.. On a diet? But you're small enough already?"

"Love handles, Jacob.. I'm not small, trust me." Emma mused as she tossed her friend Courtney the ball back and waved goodbye to her friends, shivering a little. She was wearing a hoodie right now, but it was still sort of cool outside.

She liked it, she could tell summer was turning to fall slowly, the air was crisper, the leaves were starting to change colors going from green to vibrant shades of reds and oranges, some yellows. She shuffled her feet a little and said quietly, "You cut your hair."

"Why? Do you not like it?"

"No, I like it, it's just.. I liked the way it was too." Emma admitted awkwardly, making a mental note to punch herself in the face later. Could she be any more awkward if she tried?

"Yeah. You dyed yours darker?"

"Yeah, the sun was sort of turning it this freakish reddish brown color? So I got a kit and Bella did it for me."Emma admitted as she asked, "So.. You two are still not talking, huh?"

"Basically, yeah. I'm just done with all of it."

"That's good.. I mean.. Damn it, nevermind." Emma said quietly, falling silent shortly after, walking beside Jacob until he stopped, put her on his back.

She raised a brow. When his skin touched hers, it felt like he was on fire or something. The contact actually sort of made this sizzle sound as his hot dry skin touched her wet and cool skin. "Are you sick or something? I mean Billy told Dad you've been feeling bad lately."

"Nope. I'm not sick. Promise." Jacob said as he stopped them in front of the bonfire he'd left a few moments before, sat down, pulled her down beside him. Quil eyed Emma and said with a smile and nod, "You darkened your hair."

"It was either that or look like a character from X Men with a weird reddish streak." Emma mused as she tried to ignore the way she was being stared at strangely.

Was she not supposed to be here?

Jacob gave Leah a warning glare as Leah glared at Emma for a few moments.

"Are you hungry?" he asked Emma quickly. Emma's stomach growled and laughing she admitted, "Yeah, I am I guess."

"We'll get food."

"Okay."

Jacob stood, pulled Emma off the sand, leading her towards the picnic table nearby that held the food. As they walked over, he said quietly, "I've actually been wanting to see you lately."

"M-me?" Emma asked, pointing to herself, smiling a little, her teeth grazing her lip again as she asked quickly, "Why though?"

"Missed you." Jacob said as he shrugged and then asked her quietly, "Why's it a shock?"

"Because you and Bells have always been so close?" Emma asked, noticing the intense look in his eye as he looked at her.

"Yeah, well she's just a friend.. She might not even be that anymore." Jacob said finally after gazing into her eyes a few moments. He held out a hotdog bun and nodded to her hand, asked casually, "What happened there?"

"It's stupid."

"What happened though?"

"I sort of sprained my hand when I punched this guy in the face at a house party last night.. In my defense though, he was drunk and puked on me, but only after he grabbed my ass twice. It pissed me off, I lost my temper and the next thing I know Jessica Stanley is wrapping my hand in an ace bandage upstairs."

Jacob laughed for a few moments and he looked up to find Emma giving him a dirty look as she said with a laugh of her own, "Okay, fine, so it's funny now. It wasn't last night." as she nodded to him and asked, "So, are you taking steroids or something?" mentally kicking herself when he laughed a moment and shook his head then said quietly, "Growth spurt?" raking his hand though his hair as he looked at her.

"Impressive one." Emma admitted as she took a bite of her hotdog, ketchup squirting out and landing on her arm. She licked it off and looked up at Jacob, nodded in the direction of the bonfire, asked "Taking it they're not fond of my sister?" 

"Not exactly, no.. It's mostly the guy she's dating though."

"They're happy so I'm not worried about it. It's her thing, not mine. I mean at least she's not an asshole magnet." Emma admitted, sighing as she shook her head and then added quickly, "Sorry, I've just.. Lately it's been sort of rough or something I guess?"

"Maybe you're not an asshole magnet."

"Pretty sure, Jacob, I am. I mean every date I've been on lately.. Nevermind, you cannot possibly want to hear about this." Emma said as they walked back over to the bonfire, sitting down.

"Maybe it's because you know what you really want but you won't say it?" Jacob asked, eying her, a sort of flirty smirk on his face as he took a bite of his hot dog. Her face turned this pale shade of red, she was blushing and he chuckled a little bit and wondered what she was thinking right now.

_'Was he just flirting with me? No, no, he's not. I'm just reading too much into things like usual. He's just trying to be helpful, that's gotta be it.. Right?' _she wondered to herself as she said quietly, "Something like that, I guess." and finished off her hot dog, staring into the fire quietly a few moments.

She realized how late it was getting and stood, said quietly, "Don't be a stranger, Jacob. I missed you too." hugging him for a few moments, then walking down the beach towards where she parked the truck.

She got in and pounded the steering wheel as she assessed loudly, "This.. It's exactly why you're only getting jerks and idiots? You're so damn awkward, standoffish. Probably just ruined that one, Emma, way to go." as she started the truck and drove back to her father's house.


	3. Cartoons and Conversations

3

Her bedroom door was being banged on and when she sat up and looked at the time on her cell phone, she glared at first the time she saw and then at the door as she bit her lower lip and called out in a sleepy voice, "Coming." before finally getting up, going to walk to her bedroom door. She threw it open, honestly expecting Bella or her father, seeing Jacob standing on the other side of the door instead. Instantly, she wanted to crawl into a hole and die or something, because she'd just gotten up, went to the bedroom door to open it and so she currently stood in front of her childhood friend and old crush Jacob Black, pantsless. She shrieked instead and closed the door to her room momentarily, grabbing for the first pair of sweats she saw, putting them on.

She opened the door again and Jacob was laughing to himself. She glared a moment and then said "Bella's at the Cullens."

"Maybe, Em, I didn't come over to see Bella?" Jacob stated as he stepped into her room, laughing a little as his eyes darted around, never settling on one particular thing, it was bright, messy, chaotic. Instead of an actual bed frame, she slept on mattresses on the floor with some kind of gauze canopy or something over them. There were pictures and posters up all over, and her clothes and shoes practically burst from every nook and cranny available. A vanity sat near the bathroom door, overfilled with makeup and hair accessories. Yes, she was definitely still the polar opposite of her sister.

"Okay.." Emma started, slipping a robe on over the thin strapped tank top she now wore with her sweats. She flopped back onto the mattresses and looked up at Jacob as she asked curiously, "What's up?"

"You said on Friday night, Emma, for me not to be a stranger." Jacob reminded Emma patiently, hints of that devastatingly handsome smirk on his face as he looked down at her, his eyes just sort of roaming a few moments. Emma racked her brains a moment and remembered what she said.. Had he thought she meant he had to come over, that he was somehow obligated to show up or something? She instantly began overanalzying every small detail of their conversation that night.

"I did." Emma said as she tried to figure out exactly what sorcery was behind Jacob Black standing in her bedroom at 8 am on a Saturday morning. _'It has to be because Bella's with Edward. That's totally it. The poor guy is lonely, he wants to be friends. Which wouldn't suck so bad if that was all I wanted..' _she thought to herself as she yawned, stretched and then said "You always wake up this early?"

"You don't?" Jacob asked, laughing when Emma gave him a dirty look in response and then muttered the word no. "I thought we could go do something.. If you want to, I mean?" Jacob asked, holding her gaze as she looked at him. She really did seem to be totally baffled by his even being here. They used to be really close friends, but somewhere around the time she turned ten, they started to drift apart as friends. And now that she was his imprint, it occurred to him that he barely knew the girl she'd grown into, evidently, she'd changed a lot, grown a lot.

"Actually, some friends and I were going to see a movie later.. Probably that new horror movie. If you wanna come with us?" Emma asked, smiling at Jacob who nodded and then said "And until then.. Do you want to ride my motorcycle? I finally got it running, I remember you really loved those.." as he eyed her, smiling. Emma studied him a few moments and then smiled gradually, nodded and then said "Yeah.. So I'm gonna grab a toaster pastry or something and leave a note for Dad and Bella. If you want one?"

"I am kinda hungry."

"Strawberry is okay, right?"

"Yeah."

They walked down the stairs after she'd ducked into the bathroom, changed into clothes to wear for the day and after she got the toaster pastries out of the freezer, she turned around, intending on putting them into the toaster oven and found herself chest to chest with Jacob in the small kitchen space. She nearly jumped a foot into the air, had he been standing right behind her, the entire time? She laughed a little and then with a blush she said casually, "This kitchen is super tiny." as Jacob nodded, laughed and then asked, "Do I make you this nervous, really?"

"Not really, no." Emma said as she grabbed plates, put their toaster pastries on them and held a plate out to Jacob as she said with a laugh, "For once they're not burnt. Normally I burn them a little." as she took her own plate and wandered into the den, flopped onto the couch, flipping through the television until she found cartoons. She felt eyes on him as she bit into her food and she turned, asked him with a laugh, "Yesss?"

"You still watch cartoons?"

"Every Saturday morning." Emma admitted, shrugging as she asked him with a laugh, "You don't?"

"Sometimes, yeah." Jacob said as he asked casually, "So.. Are things getting any better? I mean last week when I bumped into you, you seemed kind of down."

"It is what it is.. I mean I've sort of just made a decision to not care or something? And maybe just leave everything alone and focus on actually getting the hell out of high school." Emma said with a shrug as she asked, "What about you? What have you been up to lately, other than getting dragged into crap my idiot sister does?"  
"Putting my motorcycle together, going to school." Jacob said as he shrugged and watched her eating.

Maybe if he started doing this, coming around more, she'd realize that he wanted more than to just be her friend. He hoped so and he found himself wondering what made her the way she was now..

* * *

_Footnote: I had 3 reviews, I'm smiling really big right now. I actually thought I was a pretty shitty writer at best. Thanks for reviewing, for adding me to your subscriptions and alerts! _


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